Rep. Jim Jordan, who earlier this month lost a race to be House minority leader, has ended a bid to become the top Republican on the House judiciary committee.
Jordan, a Republican from Urbana and leader of a group of House GOP conservatives, opted not to seek the top post on judiciary after “it was made to clear to him that leadership will be selecting someone else,” said Ian Fury, a Jordan spokesman.
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Rep. Steve Chabot, R-Cincinnati, is among those seeking to become the ranking Republican on the committee when the next Congress takes office in January. Democrats will have control of the chamber for the first time since 2010.
Although Jordan is widely admired by House conservatives, he has long been an irritant to more establishment Republicans, including former House Speaker John Boehner, R-West Chester.
“He helped drag Republicans into the minority, and then he came at the leader and missed,” said one Republican staffer. “There’s no reward for that.”
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Two weeks ago, Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., the current majority leader for the GOP, easily defeated Jordan by a vote of 159-to-43 to become minority leader in the next Congress.
Jordan will retain his seat on both the judiciary and oversight committees.